Margaret Thatcher

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David Owen and David Steel - Politician and dignities attended The Ceremonial Funeral Of Former British Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher Born Margaret Hilda Roberts on 13th October, 1925, in Grantham, England, Thatcher became one of the most influential figures of the 20th century after entering politics in the 1950s. Nicknamed The Iron Lady for her tough conservative stance, Thatcher became Britain's first female prime minister after waging a successful general election campaign in 1979 and she went on to serve three consecutive terms in office. The veteran politician passed away on 8 April, 2013, after suffering a stroke following several years of declining health. Featuring: Queen Elizabeth,Prince Philip,Mark Thatcher - London, United Kingdom - Wednesday 17th April 2013

Mark Thatcher, Sarah Jane Russell and Amanda Thatcher - The funeral procession carrying the coffin of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher departs St Paul's Cathedral. Born Margaret Hilda Roberts on 13th October, 1925, in Grantham, England, Thatcher became one of the most influential figures of the 20th century after entering politics in the 1950s. Nicknamed The Iron Lady for her tough conservative stance, Thatcher became Britain's first female prime minister after waging a successful general election campaign in 1979 and she went on to serve three consecutive terms in office. The veteran politician passed away on 8 April, 2013, after suffering a stroke following several years of declining health. - London, United Kingdom - Wednesday 17th April 2013

The Iron Man has had to cede to the Iron Lady after it was confirmed that the London premiere for Iron Man 3 is to be delayed by a day to allow the funeral of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to go ahead.

The premiere of the Robert Downey Jr-starring film was scheduled to be held in London next Wednesday, April 17th, however since the death of Baroness Thatcher this week, it’s been forced to change, with a funeral procession taking place in central London finishing with the service itself at St. Paul’s Cathedral, expected to be attended by past and present US and UK leaders as well as many others. Downey Jr and Gwyneth Paltrow are still expected to walk the red carpet in spite of the switch at Leicester Square.

There is huge concern within the ranks of British officials about the potential for fall out during the procession and funeral, with Thatcher one of the most divisive leaders of the UK in its history. Running the country from 1979 to 1990, she bore the ire of the working class by disbanding the workers unions and pushing industry and services towards privatisation, putting thousands out of work and in many Northern communities, devastating their towns with the subsequent unemployment. There are several reports suggesting that there could be cases of civil unrest next Wednesday, with London on tenterhooks for any trouble.

BBC Radio One have announced that the chart show won’t be playing the song Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead, in the likelihood that it will make the top 10 of the Official UK Top 40 this weekend.

A campaign has been mounted to get the song – originally made famous for its use in 1939 film The Wizard Of Oz – to number one on the UK charts, following the death of the widely divisive former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who ran the country between 1979 and 1990. The decision was made by Radio One controller Ben Cooper, who commented to the BBC "The decision I have made is I am not going to play it in full but that I will play a clip of it in a news environment.” Continuing, he added "When I say a news environment, that is a newsreader telling you about the fact that this record has reached a certain place in the chart and here is a clip of that track… It is a compromise and it is a difficult compromise to come to. You have very difficult and emotional arguments on both sides of the fence. Let's not forget you also have a family that is grieving for a loved one who is yet to be buried."

Margaret Thatcher’s drive towards privatisation and the disbandment of workers unions in the 1980’s caused much ill-feeling among the working class of Great Britain during her period in charge. Her death caused much glee in some places, with ad hoc street parties occurring on Monday in Glasgow and Brixton, among other places, as news of her death spread.

Some people are mourning the passing of Margaret Thatcher - her legacy, economic ‘reform’ and foreign policy. Some people are celebrating the passing of Margaret Thatcher - her legacy, economic ‘reform’ and foreign policy.

One of the people seemingly revelling in the death of the first female prime minister, is Romany Blythe, a 45-year-old community drama teacher from south London. She is involved in “facilitating workshops for young, excluded and potentially criminalised individuals and uses drama techniques she has developed to explore resolution of conflict and oppression” according to her companies website. Her Facebook page was centred around inviting 5,300 people to a street party. “Come and celebrate our liberty and freedom from tyranny! On the day Maggie stands down, once and for all!” Blythe defended her actions, saying, “It’s not about gloating and being mean. It’s about using that date to reflect on the past, however unfortunate that day may be for some people She has family and they will grieve. She’s not the enemy right now; her legacy is the enemy."

Could 'Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead' reach No.1 in the UK singles chart?

Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead had launched into the UK Top 10 chart following the death of Margaret Thatcher. What probably started off as a handful of people downloading The Wizard of Oz track for their slightly tasteless parties around the UK turned into a full-fledged Facebook and Twitter campaign to get the track to No.1.

The Official Charts Company said the song had been purchased more than 10,600 by midnight on Tuesday, meaning it's at No.10 on the midweeks charts, published on Wednesday. It's on-course to be one of the top three sellers by the end of the week and could get to No.1. While many have mourned the death of Baroness Thatcher, organisers behind the Facebook campaign showed little compassion - "Make Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead number one the week Thatcher dies", launched on Monday. Though the most famous version, sung by Judy Garland, is on track for chart success, another 1961 rendition sung by Ella Fitzgerald also saw an increase in sales and nudged into the Top 150. The main track is around 5,000 sales away from a place in the Top 3.

Following the death of Margaret Thatcher yesterday from a stroke, one of the West End’s biggest plays faced the decision as to whether it would have to cut one of the most impactful moments of its script, with the show at the Victoria Palace Theatre in London possibly looking at cutting out a song in the musical that eagerly looks forward to the death of the former British prime minister.

Billy Elliott’s backdrop is the 1984 and 1985 miner’s strike between Thatcher’s government and the National Union of Mineworkers, one of the most pivotal moments of her 11 years in charge of the UK between 1979 and 1990. Given the death of the 87 year-old yesterday, Stephen Daltry, the director of the musical, said that there’d been much discussion about whether to drop the celebratory song.

Eventually, it was decided that the audience should be allowed to vote for whether the song would be allowed to remain in last night’s performance of the show or not. "After an explanation of the song's content and historical context from the stage, the audience voted overwhelmingly for its inclusion in the second act," he said. The song was composed by Sir Elton John with lyrics by Lee Hall, and is performed by miners during a party sequence, including the lyric: "We all celebrate today 'cause it's one day closer to your death."

Campaign the latest in a series of negative reactions to former Prime Minister's death

The death of Margaret Thatcher might have been met with sadness at the top level of British politics, but reactions at a wider level were far more mixed, with as many of the general public seemingly taking pleasure from the death of the UK’s first prime minister to the extent that street parties were reported in the likes of Glasgow and Brixton – the latter where the infamous Poll Tax riots of the late 80’s occurred when Thatcher was in power.

It seems that this attitude has spread to the music charts as well, with a strong campaign having been launched on Facebook to get ‘Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead’ – from the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz – to number one in the UK singles charts. The Independent reports that within 24 hours of Thatcher’s death, the track had risen to number nine on the iTunes chart and number two on the Amazon UK downloads chart. Overall that meant it had already reached number 54 in the Official UK Singles Charts.

A Facebook group had originally been set up back in 2007 to begin the campaign for the day Thatcher eventually passed away. With the Baroness’ death it’s been re-energised and gained some serious momentum, in one of more than a few controversial reactions to the death of a prime minister whose own notoriety goes without saying.

A website titled "Is Margaret Thatcher Dead?" has received a slew of criticism in recent years for its tasteless daily updates of whether or not the Baroness had passed away. Nevertheless, the website finally showed a huge YES today as reports came in that the former Prime Minister died from a stroke. She was the first female prime minister when she entered Downing Street in 1979.

Though the intellectuals, historians and biographers are having their say on Thatcher's legacy, the celebrities were also weighing in on her passing - among them, Harry Styles. The One Direction star came out as a Labour supporter last year, though he paid tribute to the former Tory leader in a tweeting this morning, saying, "RIP Baroness Thatcher.x" He and his One Direction pals buddied up with Prime Minister David Cameron for their Comic Relief campaign earlier this year.

Geri Halliwell, who has made no secret of her love for Thatcher, was another celebrity to pay tribute, saying, "Thinking of our 1st Lady of girl power ,Margaret Thatcher , a green grocer's daughter who taught me any thing is possible...x"

A letter from Jimmy Savile to Margaret Thatcher - which is thought to be the beginning of a close relationship - has been released to the public for the first time.

Part of a Savile file has been released under the 30-year rule by the National Archives at Kew, the letter reads: "I waited a week before writing to thank you for my lunch invitation because I had such a superb time I didn't want to be too effusive. My girl patients pretended to be madly jealous and wanted to know what you wore and what you ate. All the paralysed lads called me "Sir James" all week. They all love you. Me too!!" according to a picture of the letter obtained by The Daily Mail. Disturbingly, some interchanges between the two have been censored or deleted eight days after claims that he had sexually abused people surfaced in an ITV documentary.

There is no record of a reply from Thatcher, apart from a memo to her from her personal secretary. In the message dated March 9, 1981, after the DJ had lunch with Mrs Thatcher at Chequers, Caroline Stephens wrote: 'Can you kindly let me know if you made any promises to Jimmy Savile when he lunched with you yesterday, for instance: '(i) Did you offer him any money for Stoke Mandeville? '(ii) Did you tell him that you would appear on Jim'll Fix It?' In felt pen, Mrs Thatcher replies to the first saying: 'Will tell you in detail. MT.' To the second, she simply writes: 'No.'